Covid-19 lockdown recipe 7 - miniature sushi

Ok, this is a bit of a laugh, but at this stage we need it! I am proposing again my miniature sushi, perfect for those who have eaten too much during lockdown, or need to entertain the kids (can feed an entire Sylvanian Family with this!), or are so bored that need a new challenge. Each rice grain is a sushi piece. 

The video will tell you how to do it.

I made the rice like regular sushi rice (recipe here) and for the toppings I just used a variety of Japanese pickles, plus nori and bamboo shoots, so this is actually a vegan sushi. It looked super cute!!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Naibalebale village, Viwa Island, Fiji

Viwa is a coral island in the Yasawa Island, Western Fiji. There is only a small resort (11 'bure', for 22 guests) and three villages,  Naibalebale, Yakani and Najia, total population about 500. There are no cars on the island, or roads, only tracks. We visited Naibalebale, at the end of this beautiful long beach. 

Vata's House

The ladies' market, set up for the resort's guests during our visit

The village Bure, really beautiful

Keep both doors open for amazing views

Rebuilt after the cyclone 

Viwa Island School

The highlight of the visit was the local school, the children performed for us to raise money to help repairing the school, damaged after the latest cyclone. A part from the school and the resort five more houses were destroyed by the cyclone, but fortunately there were no casualties.

Children singing and dancing

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Gustoso: a dish by Alessandro

I have a special guest post today, a dish prepared by my 5 years old nephew Alessandro (pictured on the left, stirring risotto!). He named his creation 'Gustoso' and it looks yummy and also super healthy, even vegan and gluten free! Carrots, sun dried tomato, olive oil and rosemary. Bravo Alessandro! Un bacione dalla zia!

Alessandro making zucchini trifolate: zucchini, olive oil, salt and garlic

Photos by Emanuela Sias and Recipes by Alessandro Zecchini ©

Mostly raw: two juices and a lunch box

While summer produce abounds it is easy to make juices and to eat more raw food.

Green juices are the best, of course, above celery, cucumber and green apple, light and refreshing.

 This one is a smoothie and the kids made it: melon, natural apple juice, banana and apricot, decorated with borage flowers.

And below a fruit lunch box: grapes, melon, watermelon, strawberries and wild strawberries (these are from the garden), plum and apricot, plus some mini pikelets. Easy as!

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Breaking the cookie house...

This was the Cookie House, broken and eaten on Boxing Day (and the day after…) by three enthusiastic kids. It tasted lovely, of cinnamon and vanilla with a hint of peppermint near the windows.

And what did you do on Boxing Day?

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Instant Breakfast

This is for the boy, as he prefers to "drink" his cereals in the morning (takes less time!)

Ingredients:

Half glass pouring yogurt (I use boys'nberry - 

yes, a different spelling from boysenberry, good for boys!)

Half glass milk

1 Weet Bix

1 banana (I use All Good Bananas)

1 tbsp blueberries

Instructions:

Blend and drink. It makes one glass and half of thick and filling smoothie!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Life is a bowl of (white) cherries

White cherries remind me of the crunchy white 'duroni' cherries I used to eat in Italy as a child. I guess that, like the red ones, the best ones that are grown in NZ are exported, as in the shops we only seem to get seconds, and need to spend quite a bit of time sorting them. In my memories life as a bowl of cherries meant that most were good and occasionally one was bad, but in the supermarkets here you can find boxes full of bad cherries, and occasionally a good one! How can this be possible? 

Pity, they make a great addition to the lunch boxes. 

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

A Japanese gadget for fancy eggs

I brought these egg moulds in Japan, you just need to put inside a boiled egg (peeled), close the mould and place it in a bowl filled wit water (cold) and after 15 minutes your eggs are shaped like a bunny and a teddy bear! So cute! I also got some small ones for quail eggs, can't wait to try them, the kids love them!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

'5+ A Day' and 'Eat Your Colours' lunch boxes in Little Treasure Magazine

Check out the February-March issue of Little Treasures magazine for my healthy and colourful lunch boxes, full of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Tokyo Disney Sea

Going to Disneyland is something special for children, but in Japan young adults enjoy it too: girls dressed with Disney merchandise, couples on a romantic date, high school and university students... Still, I never went there when I was young and living in Tokyo, and then I went a few years ago with my children (one in Tokyo and once in Hong Kong) and I loved it (I didn't think I was going to like it, but I really did!). This time we went to Tokyo Disney Sea (Tokyo Disney is divided into Disney Sea and Disneyland), it was cold and not so crowded, but definitely fun!

I did all the scary rides (and screamed a lot), ate in a fake Venice restaurant, did not buy expensive merchandise (the tickets and food are expensive enough) but enjoyed looking at the shops, and most of all I realized that the kids are growing up and are becoming very selective about the rides they like to do (i.e. the scarier the better!)
One of the best things (after the tower of terror, that was soooo scary!!!!) was the show on water, with floats, dancers and performer, and of course Mikey and friends! I am not one for amusement parks, but I do like Disney!!

Have you been? Did you like it?

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Roast potatoes with red onion and thyme

Busy month this one! I wonder if I will manage to post every day like I did last December! Anyway, I have a lot of Xmas decoration ideas to publish and recipes too, this is a good one for the roast potato side dish (to accompany a Xmas roast, nut or other!). 

Cut the potatoes in small cubes. Chop one or two red onions, and some good olive oil and mix.

Place on an oven try lined with baking paper and sprinkle with salt. Bake on high for about 30-40 minutes, shaking the potatoes from time to time (I do this by lifting the baking paper). When the potatoes are ready add a few thyme sprigs and mix well (I like to add the thyme at the end, it will smell lovely!). I also like to use thyme with red onion, but sage could be a good alternative.

The kids have been busy with end of the year's performances, both had piano concerts at school, and then Arantxa had two dance shows (with lots of rehearsals!) and Max an ukelele festival. This Sunday they will perform in a play (Pinocchio) at the Dante Alighieri Italian society's Xmas party, you are welcome to come along!

Have a great weekend!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Fan Mail

A couple of months back I posted about taking part to the Wordsmith tour of schools, it was a lovely experience, and lots of children got inspired to pick up writing as a career. Then last month the event organizers send me a parcel full of fan mail from one of the schools we visited, and I was so moved by all the letters, poems, cards and recipes that the students sent me! I was going to post this before but I am always running out of time these days, anyway, here are some photos.

Thank you Henderson Intermediate School!

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Fruity lunch box for two, Vegan and mostly raw

Thank you to all of you for your lovely thoughts about lunches in New Zealand schools. Little time to post recipes today, So I am adding a photo of another lunch box idea, a lunch box for two (to share with your friend at school or at work :-)). The 'main' is avocado pita bread (the pita bread being the only thing pre-made here (and baked too, the rest is raw). In the pita sandwiches there is avocado (treated with lemon juice not to go brown), lettuce and cherry tomatoes. The rest, as you can see, is fruit: green and gold kiwi fruit, mandarin, grapes and strawberries. Believe it or not this was actually quite filling!

Have a great week!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Bums and Roses at the Going West Storyfest

Pretty cupcakes for the Storyfest

Party Food for Girls was once more on tour, today at the Storyfest with another sugar roses' workshop for children (of all ages) and a baking demonstration too. We started with baking cupcakes at 10am, and then we moved to our workshop table to show the kids how to make sugar roses and decorate their own cupcakes.

 

Arantxa and Martina teaching the children how to make sugar roses.

Next table down we had lovely Dawn McMillan (pictured here with Libro International children book editor Carolyn Lagahetau). Dawn is the author of I need a new bum!, an hilarious new book all about ... Bums! She was at the Storyfest with illustrator Ross Kinnaird who did a lot of sketches for the children present. And we had so many children around, all reading books and attending all the creative workshops that Storyfest had to offer. 

Literally hundred of children came to our stall to make sugar roses, here is what some of them made.

I would like to thank Martina and Arantxa for helping all day long (9:30 to 4:30!), and everyone at Going West for organizing another wonderful Book & Writers Festival. Well done!

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Lunch in NZ schools

Did you watch this? If you didn't you should. It shows you what New Zealand children eat for lunch at school. The first part is a school in a affluent area (not all the food is healthy, but there are a few good lunch boxes), and then there is a school in a poor area. Yes poor, no other words for it. I don't want to say any more because you need to see it, and feel it, to understand it. 

It was also interesting to see what KidsCan is doing to provide lunches in some of the poorest schools, good on them, but I really hope that they are going to include some fresh food there, otherwise everything is either canned (even the fruit) or cames in a packet, and the bread is too white! Of course it is better than eating nothing, but for a Country that bases its economy on agriculture it is unacceptable that fresh produce cannot be given to school children who are, after all, the one who need it most. 

And to keep in theme with the post, here is a photo of a lunch box, mostly salad (and to see the quantities of fresh produce just scroll down, they are lined up in a tray, it isn't much, and yet it is filling and nutritious. The little eggs are quail eggs. The carbohydrates addition are three slices of crostini (just baguette slices brushed with olive oil and toasted in  the oven - my kids love them!). OK, I am a Mum who likes to cut the carrots all pretty and not everybody finds the time for that, but even if you like to cut things differently from me, the massage is the same: 5+ a Day, try to use more colours (I aim for 5 different colour groups, and in winter at least 3), more veggies (not just fruit!), some protein, some carbohydrates. Of course this is just an idea, it depends on what I have in the fridge mostly, for example Vegans can substitute the quail eggs for some almonds, others could have cheese instead. No chips in my kids' lunch boxes!

And of course it goes without saying that before going to school a good breakfast is needed :-). Please watch the video and share your thought with me.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©